Method for braiding hair and method for manufacturing a wig

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for braiding hair, wherein a pre-curled group of hair is first divided into four sub-groups of hair, and wherein two of the sub-groups are twisted into a first twist and the other two of the sub-groups are twisted into a second twist. The first twist and the second twist are then twisted into a braid.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/288,689, filed Jan. 29, 2016, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for braiding or otherwise tying hair, particularly a method for braiding or tying hair for use in a wig or weave or for crocheting into hair.

BACKGROUND

A wide variety of braids is used by hair stylists and wig, weave, and crochet braid manufacturers. Such braids are often designed in order to create unique looks, increase the apparent volume of a hair style, and reduce the amount of maintenance required to maintain a hair style, among other reasons.

Often such braids are very resource intensive to implement and require significant time or skill to produce. For example, many types of braids must be hand tied and require many steps to implement. Further, certain braid styles are difficult to maintain if not tied properly, and may unravel if left unattended.

Braids that use four strands of hair for added volume and texture are known. However, such braids typically require a precise and tedious tying process, often requiring hand tying of the braid. Typically, such processes involve interweaving all four strands simultaneously and require a particular sequence that must be repeated throughout the braid.

Further, wigs, weaves, and crochet braids provided with braided hair are often designed to be used with only a single hair style. When such braided hair is untied, a new braiding process must then be implemented to retie the hair in a different hair style.

There is a need for a braid that can be quickly and efficiently implemented into hair, particularly wigs, weaves, and crochet braids. There is a further need that such a braid be stable enough to avoid unraveling and that the hairstyle be flexible enough such that the braid can be easily transitioned to a different style. There is a further need that such a braid use four strands of hair to provide additional volume and texture.

SUMMARY

A method is provided for braiding hair, wherein a pre-curled group of hair is first divided into four sub-groups of hair, and wherein two of the sub-groups are twisted into a first twist and the other two of the sub-groups are twisted into a second twist. The first twist and the second twist are then twisted into a braid.

Typically, the twisting of the first twist and the twisting of the second twist are in a first direction, and the twisting into the braid is done in a second direction opposite the first direction.

In some embodiments, the pre-curled group of hair is connected at one end, such that when the hair is divided into sub-groups, the sub-groups remain fixed at the one end. Further, in some embodiments, the twisting of the first and second twist into the braid begins after a first length from the one end, such that a loop is formed between the one end and the braid.

In some embodiments, the braid and twists may be untwisted to reproduce the four subgroups.

In some embodiments, the method further comprising implementing a permanent curling process to the group of hair prior to dividing it into subgroups. Further, several groups of such hair may be fixed at the one end of each such group to a wig scalp, and the method described may be repeated for each such group.

Further, in some embodiments, the group of hair is initially folded in half such that the one end of the group is a folded loop, and each end of the hair is divided into two subgroups.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a braid tied according to this disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a back view of the braid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a left side view of the braid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a right side view of the braid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows pre-curled hair to be used in the braid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 shows a single group of pre-curled hair separated into four sub-groups.

FIGS. 7-8 show the twisting of the four subgroups into two twists.

FIG. 9 shows the two twists of hair of FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 10 shows the twisting of the two twists of FIG. 8 into the braid of FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 shows several copies of the braid of FIG. 1 combined.

FIG. 12 shows a loop incorporated into a braid according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 shows an alternate hairstyle that may be implemented using hair tied in the braid of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The description of illustrative embodiments according to principles of the present invention is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description. In the description of embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, any reference to direction or orientation is merely intended for convenience of description and is not intended in any way to limit the scope of the present invention. Relative terms such as “lower,” “upper,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” “above,” “below,” “up,” “down,” “top” and “bottom” as well as derivative thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly,” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description only and do not require that the apparatus be constructed or operated in a particular orientation unless explicitly indicated as such. Terms such as “attached,” “affixed,” “connected,” “coupled,” “interconnected,” and similar refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments or relationships, unless expressly described otherwise. Moreover, the features and benefits of the invention are illustrated by reference to the exemplified embodiments. Accordingly, the invention expressly should not be limited to such exemplary embodiments illustrating some possible non-limiting combination of features that may exist alone or in other combinations of features; the scope of the invention being defined by the claims appended hereto.

This disclosure describes the best mode or modes of practicing the invention as presently contemplated. This description is not intended to be understood in a limiting sense, but provides an example of the invention presented solely for illustrative purposes by reference to the accompanying drawings to advise one of ordinary skill in the art of the advantages and construction of the invention. In the various views of the drawings, like reference characters designate like or similar parts.

FIGS. 1-4 show a braid 100 from four different perspectives. As shown, the braid has segments of four separate sub-groups of hair 110 a-d and extends to provide texture in all four directions shown. Typically, a plurality of such braids 100 may be combined to form a wig, or a plurality of such braids may be provided as a set for a single user to apply to their hair by, for example, crocheting individual braids into their hair.

FIG. 5 shows pre-curled hair 130 separated into a plurality of pre-curled groupings 140. Each grouping 140 is used to form a single braid 100, and the multiple groupings of hair, once tied into braids, are used in a wig or provided as a set. Each grouping is pre-curled using a hair setting technique. Many such setting techniques are well known, and various techniques, including permanent curling techniques, are contemplated. For example, the hair may be curled on curlers and dipped in boiling water, or it may be treated chemically to permanently set the hair. Alternatively, artificial hair may be used and may be manufactured to contain a curl.

As shown in FIG. 6, in order to turn a single grouping 140 into a braid 100, the grouping is divided into four sub-groups 140 a-d. Each sub-group contains a segment of the pre-curled grouping 140 and retains the curled texture of the grouping once separated. Typically, the sub-groups 140 a-d are all connected at one end 180 of the hair, which may be, for example, at a wig scalp. In other embodiments, the subgroups may extend from a center point of the strands of hair such that when the hair is folded over, it forms the pre-curled grouping 140 of hair ending in a crochet loop. For example, a single grouping 140 may be folded in half and each end may be separated into two portions to form four sub-groups 140 a-d with a loop in the middle.

FIGS. 7-10 show the method for tying the braid of FIG. 1. As shown, a first sub-group 140 a and a second sub-group 140 b are twisted together to form a first twist of hair 150. Similarly, a third sub-group 140 c and a fourth sub-group 140 d are twisted together to form a second twist of hair 160. Although the figures show the hair being twisted by hand, it will be understood that the method could also be implemented by machine, in which case the subgroups of hair 140 a-d would similarly be grasped and twisted to form the twists of hair 150, 160.

After the first and second twists of hair 150, 160 are formed, they each maintain a curled texture, as shown in FIG. 9. Each of these twists 150, 160 are then taken and twisted together to form a braid 100. In some embodiments, each twist 150, 160 is tied off or bound together, such as with a rubber band, and the braid 100 is also tied off or bound together.

In some embodiments, the twisting of the subgroups 140a-d into the two twists 150, 160 is done in a first direction, such as by twisting one strand around the other in a clockwise direction, and the twisting of the twists 150, 160 into the braid 100 is done in a second direction opposite the first, such as by twisting one twist 150 around the other 160 in a counterclockwise direction. The twisting in opposite directions creates additional texture and improves the stability of the combined braid.

FIG. 11 shows several copies of the braid 100 of FIG. 1 combined, such as to form a wig, or to provide several braids 100 to separately crochet into a wearer's hair to form a braided hairstyle.

FIG. 12 shows a loop incorporated into a braid 100 according to the present disclosure. In order to implement such a loop, the twisting of first twist 150 with the second twist 160 may begin a length 190 away from the first end 180 so that a loop 200 forms between the first end 180 and the braid 100.

In some embodiments, a user may use the braids 100 to form different hairstyles. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, the user may, for example, untwist the final braid 100 and wear the hairstyle in the form of twists 150, 160. Untwisting the braids in this manner may provide more groupings of hair and may therefore appear to provide more volume. Similarly, a user may further untwist the individual twists 150, 160 and wear the hair as a larger number of subgroups 140 a-d. This would similarly add volume to a hairstyle while retaining the curls permanently set into the hair. Further, such subgroups 140 a-d could easily be retied into the braids. 100.

In some embodiments, a manufacturer of a wig may receive hair before any processing is applied. In order to implement braids 100, the manufacturer may first separate the hair into groups 140, each fixed at the first end 180. The manufacturer may then permanently curl each grouping 140 by applying a permanent setting technique. Once the hair is set, the manufacturer may proceed as described above with respect to FIGS. 6-10.

In some embodiments, the groupings 140 are each fixed to a wig scalp early in the manufacturing process and a plurality of groupings 140 are formed into braids 100 to form a complete hairstyle. In such an embodiment, the method is repeated for each grouping 140.

While the present invention has been described at some length and with some particularity with respect to the several described embodiments, it is not intended that it should be limited to any such particulars or embodiments or any particular embodiment, but it is to be construed with references to the appended claims so as to provide the broadest possible interpretation of such claims in view of the prior art and, therefore, to effectively encompass the intended scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing describes the invention in terms of embodiments foreseen by the inventor for which an enabling description was available, notwithstanding that insubstantial modifications of the invention, not presently foreseen, may nonetheless represent equivalents thereto. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for braiding hair comprising: dividing a pre-curled group of hair into four sub-groups; twisting a first and second of the four sub-groups into a first twist; twisting a third and fourth of the four sub-groups into a second twist; twisting the first twist and the second twist into a braid.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the twisting into a first twist and the twisting into a second twist are in a first direction and the twisting into a braid is done on a second direction opposite the first direction.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-curled group of hair is connected at a first end, such that after dividing the pre-curled group of hair into four sub-groups, the sub-groups remain fixed to each other at the first end.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the twisting of the first and second twist into a braid begins after a first length from the first end, such that a loop is formed between the first and second braid at the first end.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising untwisting the braid and twists to reproduce the four subgroups.
 6. A method for manufacturing a wig comprising: permanently curling a group of hair; dividing the pre-curled group of hair into four sub-groups; twisting a first and second of the four sub-groups into a first twist; twisting a third and fourth of the four sub-groups into a second twist; twisting the first twist and the second twist into a braid.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the group of hair is fixed at a first end to a wig scalp.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising repeating the steps for a plurality of groups of hair fixed to the wig scalp.
 9. The method of claim 6 further comprising folding the group of hair in half before dividing the pre-curled group of hair into four sub-groups and forming two sub-groups from each end of the group of hair.
 10. The method of claim 6 further comprising repeating the process multiple times and providing the resulting braids as a set. 